Individual drink prices

[tlp517]

As much as I would love to buy the alcohol package, I am trying to justify the cost. What is the ballpark price per alcohol drink?

[neverbeenhere]

Google can help a lot in this area. Many calculators out there. Also bar menus are out there on the web. 

[cruiseguy1016]

As much as it shouldn't, it really dependson on the ship and the itinerary. Sometimes even the diffferent bars on the ship have different pricing. With all that said, drinks will be $10 and up. Most basic drinks such as a rum & Coke or gin and tonic will be $10 plus gratuity. Higher quality spirits will be $12 - $14 plus gratuity. I drink gin & tonic or bourbon and those are typically $10.

[JoeFan]

Delete

Edited July 13, 2023 by JoeFan

[Biker19]

10 hours ago, tlp517 said:

I am trying to justify the cost.

The break-even is about 5+ alcoholic drinks per day - if you know for sure you'll drink that, buy the package now.

[Mum2Mercury]

10 hours ago, cruiseguy1016 said:

As much as it shouldn't, it really dependson on the ship and the itinerary. Sometimes even the diffferent bars on the ship have different pricing. With all that said, drinks will be $10 and up. Most basic drinks such as a rum & Coke or gin and tonic will be $10 plus gratuity. Higher quality spirits will be $12 - $14 plus gratuity. I drink gin & tonic or bourbon and those are typically $10.

Classic mixed drinks such as Pina Coladas or Daquiris will be more like $14.  

They will add 18% mandatory gratuity to every individual drink purchase. 

They will add 18% to the package too, making it even more expensive than it appears at first glance.  

22 minutes ago, Biker19 said:

The break-even is about 5+ alcoholic drinks per day - if you know for sure you'll drink that, buy the package now.

Likely more.  We have two cruises on the books for fall, and the package is $63 on one, $83 on the other.  The lower price is on a smaller, older ship, and it's been up and down, while the $83 for a larger ship has held steady.  

[KPookey]

On my 5 day cruise on the Vision, I didn’t buy the package.
 I would drink a few each day.  I brought 2 bottles of wine and a few cans of Pepsi (you can bring 12). I used my 2- 50% off coupons off wine/beer added to my status tier.  I used my 2- 50% off coupons for coffee. I had an onboard credit of $150 from the credit card rewards. I stuck to drinks of the day which were $10-12.   I generally have a few in port as well which weren’t included in drink package. Note- the canned Truly they had onboard was $8.80 incl tax per drink. Also, we found all the cocktails to be delicious, but VERY weak. I had 1 Cosmo…very weak and pricey.  Husband had 1 delicious Mojito, but it was very pricey/weak.  

So, in 5 days I broke even with my OBC. 

Considering my husband isn’t much of a drinker (maybe has 1 per day) , the drink package will never make sense for us. 
 

 

[cruiseguy1016]

5 hours ago, KPookey said:

 Also, we found all the cocktails to be delicious, but VERY weak. I had 1 Cosmo…very weak and pricey.  Husband had 1 delicious Mojito, but it was very pricey/weak.  

 

 

 

I have heard a few other people mention this but in my experience, I have NEVER had a weak drink on an RCI ship. They are usually poured much stronger than in any of my local bars or what I mix for myself. Maybe some of the Drink of the Day specials have been weak but a standard cocktail has always been poured plenty strong enough.

[tlp517]

6 hours ago, Mum2Mercury said:

Classic mixed drinks such as Pina Coladas or Daquiris will be more like $14.  

They will add 18% mandatory gratuity to every individual drink purchase. 

They will add 18% to the package too, making it even more expensive than it appears at first glance.  

Likely more.  We have two cruises on the books for fall, and the package is $63 on one, $83 on the other.  The lower price is on a smaller, older ship, and it's been up and down, while the $83 for a larger ship has held steady.  

Yes, my quote on Freedom of the Seas is for $83/day now ☹️

[Husky1987]

5 minutes ago, tlp517 said:

Yes, my quote on Freedom of the Seas is for $83/day now ☹️

 

$83/$14= 5.92 drinks

 

If you plan on ordering morning lattes, bottled water, etc. then the number of alcoholic drinks you'd have to order would be less.  But @Biker19 was correct, the usual "break even" point is around 5 drinks per day.

[smokeybandit]

8 hours ago, Biker19 said:

The break-even is about 5+ alcoholic drinks per day - if you know for sure you'll drink that, buy the package now.

 5 mixed drinks. If you're a beer drinker, you need a lot more than 5 to break even. Even if you drink straight liquor you may need a 6-7

[Mum2Mercury]

2 hours ago, Husky1987 said:

 

$83/$14= 5.92 drinks

 

If you plan on ordering morning lattes, bottled water, etc. then the number of alcoholic drinks you'd have to order would be less.  But @Biker19 was correct, the usual "break even" point is around 5 drinks per day.

Note that if you're seeing $83, your real price -- after adding gratuity is $97.94 /day. 

And that $14 drink would be $16.52.  

[2wheelin]

19 hours ago, Mum2Mercury said:

Note that if you're seeing $83, your real price -- after adding gratuity is $97.94 /day. 

And that $14 drink would be $16.52.  

Same result. The $14 drink without the package will also be $16.52.

I'm wondering if you can get any of the premium liquors in your cocktail since the package covers up to $14 drinks and apparently most of them with basic liquor are $14.

[Liljo22]

I use $12 as the average drink price.  $71.99 will put the breakeven at averaging 6 drinks a day.  This of course would be less if you normally pay for bottled water and specialty coffee.  

[Liljo22]

NM...someone posted what I posted.    

Edited July 14, 2023 by Liljo22

[Joe33472]

59 minutes ago, Liljo22 said:

I use $12 as the average drink price.  $71.99 will put the breakeven at averaging 6 drinks a day.  This of course would be less if you normally pay for bottled water and specialty coffee.  

 

This is how I did my calculation for "break even" on the DBP.  I figured that at a minimum we would need the refreshment package, so I only considered the difference between the DBP and Refreshment.  If I did my math correctly, we both only have to drink 2 mixed drinks a day to "break even".  I can drink 2 or 3 glasses of wine at dinner, so I got my half covered 😂!  I think my girlfriend will "make up" her difference with canned soda, although with the aspartame news this morning not sure if 8 or 9 canned diet soda is a good idea. 

 

 

 

Edited July 14, 2023 by Joe33472

[Liljo22]

3 minutes ago, Joe33472 said:

 

This is how I did my calculation for "break even" on the DBP.  I figured that at a minimum we would need the refreshment package, so I only considered the difference between the DBP and Refreshment.  If I did my match correctly, we both only have to drink 2 mixed drinks a day to "break even".  I can drink 2 or 3 glasses of wine at dinner, so I got my half covered 😂!  I think my girlfriend will "make up" her difference with canned soda, although with the aspartame news this morning not sure if 8 or 9 canned diet soda is a good idea. 

 

 

 

That makes sense.  If you are planning on getting the refreshment package already then it would make sense if you also drink a couple alcohol drinks.  

 

Some people like to factor getting the non-alcoholic drinks into the breakeven amount but if you aren't normally going to pay for those items without the package, it shouldn't really factor into it.  I see it as a nice perk to be able to grab a bottle of water on the way back to the cabin but I don't count it as a drink.  

[cruiseguy1016]

8 hours ago, 2wheelin said:

Same result. The $14 drink without the package will also be $16.52.

I'm wondering if you can get any of the premium liquors in your cocktail since the package covers up to $14 drinks and apparently most of them with basic liquor are $14.

 

Yes, you can. Ask for any liquor you want. If it costs more than $14, you'll pay the difference plus the gratuity on the difference.

[asctony]

On 7/12/2023 at 10:30 PM, neverbeenhere said:

Google can help a lot in this area. Many calculators out there. Also bar menus are out there on the web. 

Maybe I don't use Google search properly. I just tried to find a list of RCI DRINK PRICE LIST & could not get any valid results.

Would you please post a link?

TIA

[Biker19]

1 hour ago, asctony said:

I just tried to find a list of RCI DRINK PRICE LIST & could not get any valid results.

In the app, go to any bar or dining venue and it will list the prices of the drinks offered there.

[asctony]

9 minutes ago, Biker19 said:

In the app, go to any bar or dining venue and it will list the prices of the drinks offered there.

Thank you! Not a User Friendly app. 

[Cigar King]

I just tried your search...it worked for me.

[S.A.M.J.R.]

On 7/14/2023 at 2:29 PM, Joe33472 said:

 

This is how I did my calculation for "break even" on the DBP.  I figured that at a minimum we would need the refreshment package, so I only considered the difference between the DBP and Refreshment.  If I did my math correctly, we both only have to drink 2 mixed drinks a day to "break even".  I can drink 2 or 3 glasses of wine at dinner, so I got my half covered 😂!  I think my girlfriend will "make up" her difference with canned soda, although with the aspartame news this morning not sure if 8 or 9 canned diet soda is a good idea. 

 

 

 

The difference on my cruise between the refreshment and Deluxe is $60.  IMO, you can ONLY count alcoholic drinks, so, at $14 (which would be the most expensive you get with the package), you'd still need 5 drinks a day.

 

I don't understand how you calculate it out to 2/day.  That would mean $28/day value.

[Joe33472]

8 hours ago, S.A.M.J.R. said:

The difference on my cruise between the refreshment and Deluxe is $60.  IMO, you can ONLY count alcoholic drinks, so, at $14 (which would be the most expensive you get with the package), you'd still need 5 drinks a day.

 

I don't understand how you calculate it out to 2/day.  That would mean $28/day value.

 

I just looked again, and the difference between the refreshment and deluxe packages on our cruise is only $24 pppd.   So, I think it makes sense for us just to buy the deluxe package.  If our cruise was like yours with a $60 difference between the two packages that would be a tougher decision for us.  

[Ourusualbeach]

3 hours ago, Joe33472 said:

I just looked again, and the difference between the refreshment and deluxe packages on our cruise is only $24 pppd.

Wow, I have never seen that close of a spread